Capetown, South Africa

Back when I was in fourth grade, I remember studying Africa in geography, especially the Cape of Good Hope -- that terrible place where ships foundered and sank, and whose passage was only achieved with great skill and seamanship.  I was particularly interested because my Aunt Mary, who lived with us for a while, had lived in Africa (today's Tanzania) and told stories about it. She also sent us some art pieces that my sisters and I were not allowed to play with, but that we found very tempting to at least pick up and examine. Never in my mind back then did it occur to me that perhaps I would get to see this continent for myself.

I spent this past week in Capetown, South Africa. What a fascinating, beautiful, modern but with some quirks (my son has a term for the quirks -- TIA -- This is Africa!!).

Day 1 was filled to the brim with sights.  Early in the morning I bought a ticket for the city-wide tour bus. This is a red double-decker with no roof, so if you climb to the upper deck, you get a beautiful view of your surroundings. You also get a set of earphones so that you can hear the descriptions, in about 8 languages.  (You get to choose the one you understand best.) The best part of this tour is that you can get on and off the bus wherever it stops, all day long, as often as you like. So if you see something that interests you, off you go, explore a bit, then get on the next bus that comes along. I did that several times.

Traffic is not so different from other cities.

City Hall -- it was from the balcony of the building on the left that Mandela spoke for the first time after being released from prison. 

My first stop was Capetown's #1 visited place -- Table Mountain -- which looms behind the city and cradles it between the mountain and the ocean. It was cloudy that day, but I could see the top of the mountain, which is reached by a cable car, so I went up. Oh my, if it had been clear, I think I could have seen all the way to Antarctica! Wandering around the paths on the top, I heard all those languages that were available on the bus -- English, Dutch, French, Afrikkans, German, Japanese, Chinese, and others in between that I couldn't identify. It was a great break from the bus, and I was glad to be on top. Did you know that recently a panel has chosen a new Seven Wonders of the World?  I didn't, but Table Mountain is one of those New Seven Wonders -- no surprise to me.

City from Table Mountain

Along the coast

One of the new Seven Wonders

After a bit more riding on the bus, we came to a place along the ocean called Camps Bay. I was getting hungry by now, and there were lots of little restaurants along the road, so off I got again.  While I was standing on the ocean side of the road looking across the street and trying to decide what to eat, I turned around and looked at the ocean again.

A little voice inside said "Sally, you should go down there and stick your feet in the ocean."
"No,"I replied, "it's a long walk over that soft sand, I'll get sand in my shoes, it's hard to walk on that stuff, I'll just stay here and look at it."
"Don't be stupid -- you know you'll kick yourself when you get home if you don't do it!"
"OK, I guess....."

It was a very delightful 45 minutes!  Yes, it was a long walk over hard-to-walk-in soft sand, yes I got sand in my shoes, and up my legs, and I got my pants wet, but I'm so glad I did it!  I found a little inlet where the waves weren't too fierce and where there were rocks to sit on, and stuck my feet, almost to my knees, in the water of the South Atlantic!

By then it was way past lunch time, and food (a Norweigan salmon salad Nicoise -- yum) was calling.

Colorful houses in District 6 -- that part that was torn down during the Aparteid years. 

ONe more stop for the day -- the Aquarium.  I love aquariums; when we lived in Hawaii about 25 years ago, my favorite activity was tide pooling, and this is as close as I can get. Capetown has a beautiful aquarium, and it was an hour well spent.